Javanese culture values virtues that contribute to harmonious
social integration. Ideal human virtues include obedience to
superiors (manut), generosity, avoidance of conflict,
understanding of others, and empathy (Geertz 1961;
Koentjaraningrat 1985; Magnis-Suseno 1988). The traditional
Javanese view that all men are socially unequal is demonstrated
in numerous aspects of social behaviour. Therefore, respectful
behaviours are constantly instilled in Javanese children.

The permissiveness noted earlier towards children younger than
five or six years is mainly to structure affairs so as to
minimize the emergence of impulses disruptive of social life. The
child is considered durung Jawa (not yet Javanese) or durung
ngerti (does not yet understand) (Geertz 1961), so the use of
force or punishment for incomprehensible mistakes is considered
useless. Magnis-Suseno (1988) observed that parents rarely become
angry with their small children.

Unacceptable behaviour is indirectly opposed by frightening
the child with the bogey man, strangers, or dogs, which,
according to MagnisSuseno (1988), also turns the child to the
parents for emotional security. However, Koentjaraningrat (1985)
noted that some Javanese peasants threaten their children with
punishment, and even with a fit of anger. He agrees, however,
that children's behaviour is generally controlled without
punishment.

In contrast to the importance of punishment among the Yoruba,
only 5 per cent of the Javanese mothers slapped or spanked their
child while the observer was present, and only 10 per cent
punished the child more than once a week. Geertz (1961) notes
that as the child grows older, training for adulthood may involve
discipline even physical punishment to instil "correct"
behaviour. Older children in our data set were more likely to
have been disciplined than the younger children.

Geertz (1961) illustrated the kind of permissiveness that the
mother may display towards the child:

If a child wants to stay up late there is usually no
objection from the parents, and at the shadow plays the
children sit all night in front of the screen, watching and
napping alternately. On ordinary evenings the mother will
simply ask the child if he wants to go to sleep and will keep
asking him until he says yes. There is rarely a battle of
wills; there is no direct opposition ... If the child gets
out of hand and the quiet methods do not work, the mother may
frighten him with talk of the bogey man he will see if he
does not shut his eyes. (Geertz 1961, 103)

Mothers are also generally very permissive or indulgent in
treating children to snacks and other food on demand, and
children are not usually expected to wait for food throughout the
day (Geertz 1961; Tan et al. 1970). Only 26 per cent of the
mothers in our sample replied that the child cannot snack any
time he/she is hungry and must wait until meal time to be fed; 84
per cent of the children had consumed sweet and salty snacks -
providing 1$ per cent of the total energy consumed. These snack
products, or "Javanese junk food" (sweet cassava and
glutinous rice products, salty commercially produced fried puffs
and drinks) are generally low in micronutrients. Anecdotal
evidence has suggested that children may consume so much of these
high-calorie, low nutrient density snack foods between meals that
more "nutritious" foods in the diet may be
short-changed.

Young children have little opportunity to develop their own
initiative and to be independent, according to Geertz, since they
are heavily protected from frustration and danger. According to
Koentjaraningrat, this remains true only until the child reaches
about five years of age, after which he is free to play with his
peers in the neighbourhood. By contrast, however, Megawangi,
Sumarwan, and Hartoyo (1994) found that 94 per cent of Javanese
parents want to have independent children.

As the child gets older, he gradually becomes inculcated with
the Javanese concepts of self-control and obedience. He realizes
that people around him are not responding as they used to, and
they punish him when he does not obey. This transition, according
to Geertz, has a significant impact:

The shift in the father's role from one of affection
and warmth to one of distance and reserve, although it is
only one step in the whole series of events by which the
child learns the specific Javanese concepts of self-control
and respect, is probably the most significant both because of
the crucial place of the father in the child's emotional life
and because this transition period occurs during the period
of the oedipal crisis. But it would not have the impact it
has if it were not presaged and followed up by other events
in the child's life, or perhaps more important, if it were
not for the meaningful context of Javanese ideas and values
in which the whole transition is set. (Geertz 1961, 110)

In psychodynamic terms, protection from shock or frustration
may delay or reduce the intensity of the child's individuation by
preventing any sense of break in feelings of belonging to the
gratifying family environment created by his parents and
siblings. This pattern is related to what Bary, Child, and Bacon
(1959) have observed through cross-cultural observations. Under
the Javanese concept of obedience, which is typical of
agricultural or pastoral societies, children are trained to be
more compliant, obedient, and responsible than are children from
hunting or fishing societies.

There is a little difference between peasant parents and the
higher rank priyayi or noble families in terms of
punishment (Koentjaraningrat 1985). The priyayi philosophy
regarding the education of the children is Tut wuri andayani,
which means "following from behind, constantly giving
encouragement" (Koentjaraningrat 1985, 241). Therefore,
children in priyayi families are more free to explore
their own world, which according to Koentjaraningrat reflects
early European or Dutch influences. But the child is actively
guided to conform to socially acceptable behaviour. Unlike the
father in traditional families, the father in the priyayi family
also plays an active role in guiding his children, applying
punishment more frequently. Physical punishment, however, is
rarely used because Javanese children, according to Geertz, are
markedly well behaved, obedient, quiet' and shy.

If a child does not behave according to the norm, attention
from or contact with his brothers or sisters may be withdrawn,
and he may not be spoken to (disatru). Playmates also satru
or shun each other for several days. Regarding this matter,
Geertz noted: "It is an excellent mechanism for the
adjustment of hostility in a society that plays down violence and
the expression of real feelings, since it allows for the
avoidance of the outbreak of rage while still permitting
significant expression of it" (Geertz 1961, 117-118).
Physical fights between children are rare (Geertz 1961). Parents
always maintain good relationships with their neighbours. They
always punish their own children if they have a fight with other
children in the neighbourhood, regardless of who is wrong. In
this way, children prepare for later social interactions in which
they must successfully conceal their anger.

Obedience is considered not only a useful quality in social
interactions, but it is also considered more safe
(Koentjaraningrat 1985). The act of giving in to other people
with whom one is not familiar is considered safe, avoiding
conflict. Obedience is widely praised in both peasant and priyayi
values. A child is taught obedience by forcing a sense of
apprehension of unpleasant consequences of an action, or wedi (afraid).
The usual method used by parents, which according to
Koentjaraningrat is unfortunate, is frightening children with
threats of punishment at the hand of spirits or strangers. He
further explains that this has stimulated the easy emergence of
feelings of fear towards others. According to Geertz, the concept
of wedi is taught before the concept of shaming is
inculcated. Geertz also describes the way in which parents
instill wedi by frightening the child. She once observed
"the two-yearold, silent in fear that the strange visiting
man will, as his mother had warned, bite him if he makes a noise
..." (Geertz 1961, 113). This feeling conveys Javanese adult
norms in social interaction to feel wedi first when they
deal with unfamiliar people. Not knowing whether they will harm,
hurt, or shame him (Koentjaraningrat 1985), the Javanese waits
and remains inactive until he is sure how the situation will
develop.

In teaching self-control and respectful behaviour to Javanese
children, parents emphasize the concept of isin or
shaming. The parents always try to arouse feelings of shame
towards bad behaviour that will be "noticed by people from
the street" (Koentjaraningrat 1985, 242) The children should
feel isin toward their superiors. Geertz found that as the
result of the inculcation of isin, Javanese children can sit
quietly and well behaved for hours on any public occasion. In the
Javanese culture, to know when to feel isin is to know the
"basic social properties of self-control and avoidance of
disapproval" (Geertz 1961, 114).

As the child enters adolescence, the concept of sungkan (respectful
politeness) (Geertz 1961), is gradually introduced. This feeling
is addressed to a superior or an unfamiliar equal.
Koentjaraningrat (1985) described it as "feeling
awkward" towards a superior or someone whom he respects.
They will act timidly in their social interactions, trying not to
bother their superiors. According to Geertz, the concept of sungkan
is basic for the Javanese "to be able to perform the
social minuet with grace" (Geertz 1961, 114).

The teaching of wedi, isin, and sungkan is
considered prerequisite for adopting the basic elements of human
virtue. As mentioned earlier, obedience, generosity, avoidance of
conflict, understanding others, and empathy are basic values for
the Javanese in their relationships, reflected in their emphasis
on the interconnection of fellow humans. This value obliges the
Javanese to conform to the community in their social
interactions.

In our data from Central Java, a breakdown in the teaching or
enforcing of this self-control or respectful behaviour may be
accompanied, among children, by significantly lower nutrient
intake and, to a lesser extent, a shorter stature. A modified
HOME subscale from our study apparently captured an acceptance,
on the part of lowerclass parents, of culturally inappropriate
behaviours from their children. These behaviours - hitting
parents or expressing negative feelings - are generally
inappropriate for Javanese children. Koentjaraningrat (1985) also
noted that, among the lower class and rural peasant families,
there was permissiveness or delinquency in teaching this respect
behaviour - possibly linked with poverty and the migration to the
towns in search of work due to land pressures. These poorer
children also were taught more self-reliance and greater
responsibility; in fact, "one has the impression that the
development of more self-reliance and self-responsibility is
still neglected among families who can afford a prosperous and
comfortable life" (Koentjaraningrat 1985). These
observations were consistent with our correlation analysis - the
"acceptance of inappropriate behaviours" factor was
negatively correlated with the household's expenses, home
sanitation, membership of community organizations, home safety,
and learning stimulation subscale.

The Javanese values of respect and the maintenance of social
harmony (rukun) are basic principles of normative and
moral guidance for social interaction within both the family and
the community. The attitude of respect, described before by
Geertz and Koentjaraningrat, is based on the lineal value
orientation in social relationships. This respect also is
reflected in Javanese social behaviour in other contexts, such as
the workplace, schools, and political organizations. The strong
emphasis on rukun (social harmony) has marked the typical
Javanese as inexpressive, avoiding social and personal conflict.
Geertz noted that to the Javanese " ... emotional
equilibrium, emotional stasis, is of highest worth, and on the
corresponding moral imperative to control one's impulses, to keep
them out of awareness or at least unexpressed, so as not to set
up reverberating emotional responses in others" (Geertz
1961,147).

All of these values colour Javanese society. These ideals also
are reflected in the national Indonesian state ideology, Pancasila,
which stresses mutual help, mutual understanding, and tolerance
as important principles in human relations and Indonesian
society. The President of Indonesia, Suharto, who is Javanese,
made a presidential decree to launch an intensive and pervasive
educational programme on Pancasila ideology to introduce
it to schoolchildren, university students, and various groups of
employers and employees.

We have seen how the family, as the first place for children
to learn models for social relationships, works in preparing
children to act as full members of Javanese society.
Socialization within the family has implications that permeate
both individual personality and the entire social system. The
moral components of familial institutions are internalized by the
child during the earliest years and are significant forces
motivating the child's behaviour later in adulthood (Geertz
1961).

Koentjaraningrat (1985), however, hypothesized that to the
extent that the concept of respect and social harmony are
achieved in day-to-day life, they entail a certain
"cost." The great reliance on, and respect for, seniors
and superiors in the civil servant class (priyayi) can
diminish the sense of selfreliance. Obedience to superiors can
prove detrimental to the mentality of civil servants, leading to
an unwillingness to take risks because they do not feel safe in
acting without the support of other people with whom they can
share the responsibility (Koentjaraningrat 1985). Such weaknesses
are sometimes regarded as unfortunate by-products of a strong
culture, rather than as singular attitudes to be eliminated (Hull
1986).

The organizational structure of the government corresponds to
these cultural values. In general, there is a strong centralistic
tendency in some government programming. The local
administrators' task is only to implement centrally designed
packages that contain detailed activities and a budget. This
presentation of the task leaves little opportunity for
creativity, and can create an attitude of passive implementation
among the local managers. Given the lineal value orientation,
they feel comfortable with this kind of central structure. The
impressive achievements of the immunization programme, for
example, are partly due to adhering to norms for obedience and
respect. President Suharto once was photographed while
administering a polio vaccine to an infant. A poster of this was
widely distributed to gain the support and involvement of
provincial governors and local leaders. Because of this poster,
the provincial governors have become involved, with good
coordination between the governors and local heads being key
features of the programme's success.

The strong passive tendency among Javanese civil servants
relates to Geertz's description of the enculturation process
within the family. Before children can comprehend the concept of
"respect" and "the maintenance of social
harmony," the psychological groundwork is laid. These values
presuppose an ability to control any expressive behaviour, and to
choose inaction rather than action. Constant protection from any
unpleasant shock, and hence from exploration during infancy, may
serve to build a passive attitude. Passivity also is encouraged
through teaching polite behaviour. Children are actively
supervised and repetitively advised to adopt proper behaviour or
be frightened by threats of strangers and bogey men. Mothers also
discourage children from any spontaneous behaviour and teach them
to be sensitive to any subtle reactions of other people.

In contrast, Rohner (1975) described treatment of the Papago
children (one of the American Indian tribes), who are treated
with support, affection, warmth, and comfort by their elders. He
found that these children made few "dependency bids"
because their needs for affection had been met. When they were
older, they became more self-reliant and independent and left
their compounds for wages for extended periods of time. A similar
style exists in the Javanese peasantry. As Jay (1969) observed,
Javanese children exhibit industriousness by imitating adults'
work, which is thus praised and rewarded by their parents.
Although self-reliance has not been mentioned as a typical
Javanese attitude by authors we reviewed, we can argue that
Javanese children have a certain degree of independence. As
available land in Java becomes more scarce, the Javanese youth
frequently leave the village to work for wages or to engage in
informal sector jobs, activities that require a certain degree of
self-reliance and independence.

Geertz also noted some undesirable features of Javanese life
resulting from their adherence to norms for respect and external
social harmony. Since expressions of open hostility or direct
opposition are not socially acceptable, the only way to deal with
such situations is through evasion, covert disobedience, and
mutual avoidance. This behaviour pattern is often difficult for
other ethnic groups working with the Javanese. A personal
communication conducted with an Indonesian anthropologist
(anonymous 1991) who is not Javanese stated that one should be
overly cautious when Javanese say "yes" because
"yes" may mean yes, no, or maybe. "If you are not
sensitive enough, a Javanese would avoid you."

As described earlier, values of respect and obedience still
are preserved in the higher priyayi class of society,
although they are diminishing in peasant society. Because
lower-class persons are more likely to engage in informal sector
employment, they do not necessarily rely on superiors;
nevertheless, they maintain these values within the family and
kin group (Koentjaraningrat 1985).

The changing attitudes towards obedience in peasant societies
is in accord with theories proposed by LeVine (1974) that suggest
that obedience is a particularly valued trait in a child in
agricultural economies because it is necessary for economic
survival as an adult. According to LeVine, obedience becomes more
important in traditional agricultural societies when economic
survival is in greatest jeopardy. Reduced land availability and
increasing reliance on commercial activity require that the
Javanese peasant moves towards less respectful behaviour and more
autonomy.

However, these trends appear to be manifested unevenly in the
different social strata in Java. While the priyayi class
shows other characteristics considered typical of modern
parenting, such as greater emotional closeness between father and
child, high levels of obedience and hierarchical respect are,
nevertheless, maintained. This pattern is inconsistent with the
generalizations reported in chapter 4 on the effects of
middle-class status and modernization on parenting practices. As
discussed in chapter 4, Kohn (1969) and other researchers have
found that obedience and following the rules were highly valued
in parents with blue-collar or traditional occupations, whereas
independence and initiative were believed to pay off by
professional and managerial parents. Hoffman's findings (Hoffman
1988) in the United States, Turkey, and Singapore supported
Kohn's hypothesis. However, he found that the percentage of
fathers endorsing the child's obedience in the highest social
stratum was 50 per cent in Indonesia and 63 per cent in the
Philippines, while in the other countries the percentage was less
than 20 per cent in the same social class.

Comparing social strata within each country figure in
Hoffman's study (Hoffman 1988), the same trend was observed as in
Kohn's (Kohn 1969) and LeVine's (LeVine 1963) findings (except
for the Philippines): the higher the social stratum, the more
likely were the fathers not to expect a child's obedience.
Looking at the data for mothers in Indonesia, however, the
opposite trend was observed, in which the expectation of a
child's obedience in the highest class category was very high
overall and marginally higher (79.3 per cent) than in the lowest
social stratum (73.7 per cent). This suggests either the
persistence of pre-modern values in the two social classes or
that Javanese women, in the process of modernization, are more
resistant than the men to changing their culturally embedded
behaviour. Since our literature review shows that mothers are
closer than men to their children, the modernization process may
not affect the child-rearing strategy in high-class families, at
least in the near future.

Hoffman (1988) has theorized that the endorsement of obedience
relates to the subsistence level of a country. Using
cross-national samples (Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States), he
found that obedience is stressed most in agricultural countries
where subsistence resources are scarce. He used per capita energy
supply and per capita protein supply to measure subsistence
level. Indonesia now has reached beyond the subsistence level in
terms of rice production: socioeconomic figures indicate rapid
improvements, and Indonesia has been ranked by the World Bank
(1983) as a middle-income, oil-producing country. Indonesians
(e.g. the Javanese) are, indeed, rapidly entering the mainstream
of contemporary civilization, yet the traditional value
orientation is still preserved by the higher-class society.
Koentjaraningrat (1985) may be right in proposing a hypothesis:
"... whenever a culture or subculture in a particular class
of the society concerned has an established ancient tradition and
therefore a vested interest in protecting the great tradition, it
will show greater resistance towards change than cultures or
subcultures with few such traditions" (Koentjaraningrat
1985, 462). This is, in fact, the same argument made by Barnlund
(1989, 161-171) in explaining why Japanese culture succeeds in
maintaining respectful behaviour while North American culture
does not. This hypothesis, however, needs to be supported by more
extensive research.

Another, simpler, hypothesis regarding the relationship
between respect and physical punishment also should be examined.
Modernization reduces the use of physical punishment in favour of
verbal explanation. Where physical punishment has been used to
maintain respect, formality, and distance between parents and
children, its removal may lessen respectful behaviour. In a
culture such as the Javanese, however, where physical punishment
is nonexistent and respectful behaviour historically has been
taught verbally and modelled through concepts of shyness, fear,
and shame, there may be less cause for the erosion of respect.

Javanese parents appear to be highly adaptive in terms of the
survival, health, and economic capacities of children. Javanese
parents tend to be very responsive to new ideas in child care, as
demonstrated by the widespread use of growth monitoring and the
popularity of a new tool for child-development assessment and
parent teaching, introduced into the posyandu (Satoto and
Colletta 1987). At the macro-level are increased primary school
enrolment, decline in infant mortality, impressive immunization
coverage, and a decline in the fertility rate (UNICEF and the
Government of Indonesia 1988).

From a historical point of view, in Javanese society maternal
attention during the child's vulnerable period agrees with
LeVine's theory (LeVine 1988) that the optimal parental strategy
for an agrarian society is high fertility with maximization of
the number of surviving children. This is because the agrarian
subsistence economy seems to rely on child labour. The goal of
high fertility was historically difficult to achieve, given the
high infant mortality rate. The period of exclusive maternal
attention, which also includes breastfeeding and co-sleeping, is
a way to provide confidence in the child's survival. The practice
of high physical nurturance and protection before the child is
weaned is still prevalent in Javanese culture, even if the infant
mortality rate (IMR) has declined. (The official IMR reported by
the Indonesian Government is 56 [D. Dapice 1991, personal
communication). This custom, which appeared to be positively
adaptive to past conditions, also seems to adapt to current
conditions. It may be that Javanese infant care cannot be fully
explained in terms of requirements for infant survival. The
Javanese emphasis on social and emotional ties and sharing also
may shape the Javanese infant care system.

LeVine et al. (1991) take a new, more detailed, view of the
precise mechanism through which female education influences
mother-child interactions in their analysis of data from Mexico,
as described in chapter 2. In our opinion, a similarly sensitive
approach to the examination of specific pathways will lead to the
understanding of family and parenting changes with socio-economic
development in Java, where soothing behaviour may continue to
coexist with high levels of conversational interaction between
mother and infant and may actually be used to sustain in the
infant a high level of attention to cognitive stimulation by the
mother.

As Geertz noted, soothing and overprotecting infants, and
inculcation of self-control after the age of five, are necessary
ways in which the family enculturates the concepts of
"respect," "obedience," and "maintenance
of social harmony." The infant care pattern prepares a child
for harmonious social relationships within the community that
continue through adulthood. Perhaps this kind of parenting
strategy is parallel to a nineteenth-century American Calvinist
doctrine in child-raising. Sunley (1955) studied several
magazines that were published between 1832 and 1876 (Mother's
Magazine, Mother's Assistance, and Parents' Magazine), and
noted that the doctrine showed the parents how to train obedience
in children by "break[ing] the will" of the children,
because complete submission was requisite if the child was to be
protected from sin and evil. In the first three months of life,
or even for the first year, infants should be tenderly cared for
and their wishes granted. (For the Javanese children this lasts
until the child has reached the age of five). However, after
that, one should "Establish your will, as the law ... this
would keep the child from experiencing all those conflicts of
feeling of those doubtful as to their guide" (Sunley 1955,
160). This is similar to introducing self-control in Javanese
children.

Given the Javanese and Japanese examples, we cannot totally
accept the Western idea of independence as the best solution for
facing "the new information-based society." We are
apprehensive of the links that can be made between independence
and the family's isolation from friends and neighbours. Garbarino
(1982) noted that domestic violence and neglect are indications
of excessive stresses and strains associated with family
isolation. Therefore, interventions to change maternal treatment
of young children in Javanese culture (from high physical
nurturance to independence) may not guarantee better results and
could result in collapse of the long-standing social equilibrium.
Koentjaraningrat (1985) indicates that self-reliance and
independence cannot go hand in hand with the value of
"mutual help" (gotong royong) and "mutual
understanding" in the social relationships.

The need for more self-reliance and greater
self-responsibility is, of course, a consequence of the
general decline of the gotong-royong value. The national
Indonesian state ideology, the Pancasila, on the other hand,
capitalizes on the gotong royong ideal and stresses common
endeavor, mutual help, mutual understanding, and tolerance as
important principles in human relations and national life,
and the insistence from above on maintaining these values
will probably put restrictions on the development of a
liberal individualistic outlook among most Indonesians in
general and the Javanese in particular. (Koentjaraningrat
1985, 461)

None the less, the existence of these seemingly contradictory
values of self-reliance and mutual help is not supported by ample
empirical evidence. In contrast, cross-cultural studies show that
strong feelings of mutual responsibility uniting members of
extended kinsmen (e.g. in Papago [Rohner 1975], and in Fiji [West
1988]) coexisted with encouragement of self-reliance. In
addition, despite migration, interconnectedness between kinsmen
was still maintained. The Javanese emphasis on social bonds,
introduced to children at an early age, does not separate
self-reliance from social bonding. Jay's report (Jay 1969)
indicates that children are encouraged but not pressured into
doing adults' work. It seems that Javanese nurturing activities
are well adapted to social expectations.

If we link the Javanese infant care system with the
rejection-acceptance theory described by Rohner (1975), the
Javanese children would be categorized as "accepted"
children. Rohner defined "accepted" children as those
who are loved, protected, and given full children's rights,
resulting in positive personality functioning. In his cultural
studies, he notes that:

The rejection-acceptance theory ... predicted that
rejected children and adults the world over will be, in
comparison to accepted persons, more hostile and aggressive
or passive-aggressive (or have more problems with the
management of hostility and aggression), will be more
dependent, evaluate themselves more negatively, will be less
emotionally responsive, less emotionally stable, and will
have a more negative view. (Rohner 1975,159)

Therefore, encouragement of self-reliance in children should
not be at the expense of social bonding.

The increase in materialism may change parent-child
relationships. One example is a move in language patterns towards
less formally polite speech (Sosrodihardjo 1972). However, this
change process may have been slowed down by the mixed feelings
that many Indonesians have toward modernization (Hull 1986). Hull
concluded that:

In Indonesia two terms which are often used
interchangeably are cara modern (modern ways) and tingkat
Internasional (international standard), both of which imply
that the essential characteristic of modern goods is that
they are imported. Moreover, while the goods - jeans, cars,
plastic buckets are manufactured in Asia, the technologies
are largely derived from Western industrial societies. In
Indonesian thinking, then, modernization is sometimes
regarded as synonymous to Westernization. Understandably, in
a nation which fought to rid itself of Western colonialism,
modernity is regarded with mixed emotions. On the one hand
modern material life is pleasurable, convenient and
comfortable; on the other, the goods are symbolic of a form
of neocolonial domination and loss of hard-won independence.
(Hull 1986,199)

1. "Unity in Diversity" is the major
theme of the efforts of national integration in Indonesia.
Therefore, any activities that lead toward the divisiveness
of ethnic identity in Indonesia are prohibited.